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With Seton Hall's ticket inventory for the 2/18 game against Villanova already getting low, rumors are starting to float that they're considering opening the upper level of the Rock for that game. SHU fan opinions seems pretty split.

Pros
- It's Big East Champs vs. National Champs - market the hell out of it an see if they can't sell out the whole building or close to it. Would be a great look for SHU and the BE if successful.
- More seats = more tickets sold = more $$$$

Cons
- Lose the small, intimate atmosphere they go for by closing off the upper section
- Fear that Villanova fans will buy up all the extra seats effectively turning home court into a neutral court.

What do you guys think? Would your opinion be different if it was your team facing this decision?

If it's up to me I probably open the upper deck. You get some extra revenue and bump up your attendance numbers for the year.

*Big East tournament champs vs. National Champs

Dreaming big vs. fear you might fail.

Dream big, Hall.

Wont you guys fill it? Yes, nova fans too will buy tix but Hall should still have home court advantage. Open it up.

Play to win. Don't play to not lose. Open the gates and have a no-holds-barred slugfest in grand old BE fashion with a full house. C'mon SHU. Let the people come!

Novachap wrote:Wont you guys fill it? Yes, nova fans too will buy tix but Hall should still have home court advantage. Open it up.

It would be nice, but I'm too not confident in that. The only other time they opened the upper level was in 2013 against Syracuse, and they only opened the upper center sections, not the whole thing. The ticket office went to great lengths to ensure the upper level was filled with blue shirts. I forget exactly what they did - they definitely had a call campaign to season ticket holders to buy extra tickets to that game - and the upper level tickets may have only been available to season ticket holders. The point is, they went out of their way to keep those seats away from 'Cuse fans. Come tipoff, the upper sections were just a Giant sea of orange. The STHs bought the extra seats and put them straight on stubhub for 'Cuse fans to buy.

Based on that, I definitely get the hesitation. They also need to be confident that they'll sell enough tickets to cover the extra rent expense of opening the top (though I'm sure Nova fans will happily help with that if SHU fans don't get the job done).

My opinion is open it up. As long as the team meets expectations, the extra seats should sell themselves, and not just to Villanova fans. This could easily end up being the Big East's must-see game of the season. It's almost certainly Seton Hall's. The big difference between now and the Syracuse game from 2013 is that Seton Hall is actually good - there's a reason to come watch them, not just the opponent. Worst case scenario, if the team fails to live up to expectations, is a repeat of 2013 which at least generates some extra revenue.

"It's Big East Champs vs. National Champs"

Nova was both the Big East and national champs. Just sayin...

chopper wrote:"It's Big East Champs vs. National Champs"

Nova was both the Big East and national champs. Just sayin...

Still doesn't make the initial statement invalid. Just sayin...